


To my daughter

by angelfiregirl80



Series: Prompts [41]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: John Watson in Afghanistan, Other, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7489137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelfiregirl80/pseuds/angelfiregirl80
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My beautiful daughter; you were born in a world that is at war with itself; and I so wish I could protect you from all the horrors that are happening, all the sadness that is invading this world, all the pain and sorrow that is currently taking the hearts of many. I wish I could build a world where you can live happy and free, where your choices are your own; and no one has the right to kill you for them. The only thing I can give you, in spite of wanting to keep you safe and surrounded by pink cotton, is an advice, or a lesson, or just the ramblings of an old fool that loves you and your Papa with his life:</p>
            </blockquote>





	To my daughter

**Author's Note:**

> A reflection that I decided to voice using John. I ask for your forgiveness if I offend you; I wouldn't want to hurt or disrespect anybody with what I think.
> 
> I love you all  
> AFG

_My dear daughter_

_You were born in a world that, at this moment, is at war with itself. I wish I could spare you of the horrors that you will later in life learn; I wish I could protect you from the pain and sorrow of knowing that thousands of innocent people have died for their freedom, and most of all; I wish I could spare you of my own history, and from the fact that at some point, I was one of the many holding the gun._

_You know your Papa and I solve crimes for a living; you weren’t even a month when we spent a whole day at a crime scene with Papa, and even though I yelled my head off, he said, and now I know he was right, but please do not tell him… he was right, he said we needed to prepare you for worst, for the pains of the world, for war, for sadness, and for other horrors that come with the job._

_I was a soldier, and I fought for a cause, that at the moment, seemed correct to fight for; the freedom of others. I acted under orders, someone else’s orders, but your Papa said something to me that had been ringing in my memory ever since “And you invaded Afghanistan”. I know he wasn’t criticizing me, he was merely stating the fact that I, as a soldier, as a man of duty, simply fulfilled my duty._

_Now that I’m away from the sands of war, that I’ve paid my choice with not only my blood, but the blood of others, and endless dreams and memories of the many men I killed, and the others I couldn’t save; I’ve had the time to reflect, and if I was given the chance to choose otherwise, I would have done exactly the same, because that choice brought me to you and to your father, and the life we have now._

_But I’m not blind to other horrors, other choices; other lives that are being taken and not for the pursuit of freedom, but for the same exact reason I fought, for believing that I have the right to interfere in the life of others, in their choices, in their futures, in their freedoms; in an endless quest to prove that I am right and all the others are wrong for not believing in what I believe. He who doesn’t know offends, he who doesn’t understand, hurts, he who doesn’t learn, is destined to repeat._

_I am a soldier, I choose to be, and as such, I’ll defend my position with my life; meaning that I know I could have done otherwise, but at the same time, I had no other choice but to act as the soldier I am. At the same time I am a doctor, and I know that by being a doctor, my choices broadened in a much larger spectrum, that of being able to save lives, not just by fighting (maybe wrongly) for them, but by healing them, no matter their religion, their country, their age or their sex; people are people._

_My beloved; you were born in a world were a man jumps of building to save my life and disappears for two years, then returns, broken, sad, alone, but returns to me, and protects me from other horrors, other attacks, other nightmares; but he’s just a man, and he can do so much, just as much as I can do to keep you safe in this world that is a war with itself._

_I know I could leave tomorrow morning for work and never return, not because of a case with your Papa, or any of the dangerous events that our work entails; but because a man decided to board the tube and blow himself up for what he believes; or another one choses to open fire at a bar where uncle Greg and I are sharing a pint; or maybe because another man -that rightly believes in what he’s doing, and I, as a soldier, respect his beliefs, but as I doctor, I would ask him if that is the only way, and as a man I would prefer he would think about what he’s about to do before doing it- decides that he can hurt many of us by using a lorry to run us down. Or perhaps a man that decides that because I’m white, gay, British, a soldier, a doctor, agnostic, simply different from himself; I’m not worth living._

_My beautiful daughter; you were born in a world that is at war with itself; and I so wish I could protect you from all the horrors that are happening, all the sadness that is invading this world, all the pain and sorrow that is currently taking the hearts of many. I wish I could build a world where you can live happy and free, where your choices are your own; and no one has the right to kill you for them. The only thing I can give you, in spite of wanting to keep you safe and surrounded by pink cotton, is an advice, or a lesson, or just the ramblings of an old fool that loves you and your Papa with his life:_

_Be true to yourself and respect others_

_Be true to what you believe, but in doing so, respect the beliefs of others_

_Be true to your choices and live them, without hiding, but respect the choices others make, including the one of not respecting what you chose to be_

_Be true to what you love, to the ones you love, and respect them, love them just the way they are, because if you don’t, it means you don’t really love them, and, out of respect, mostly because of that, you should walk away and allow them to be._

_That is all, our little love. I wish I could spare you of all, but you were sadly born in a world at war with itself. I can only hope to be a good father to you, to guide you well, and to teach you, more like show you, that love and respect are the answer to any question about life you may have._

_I love you, my beautiful baby love; I love you, always_

_Dad_


End file.
